Parcel for You.. - Part 34

 

Later that night, in the moments just before Spencer fell into his standby sleeping mode, Vanessa felt overwhelmed with curiosity about his encounter with Lorenzo and how it might have affected him.

 

There was a strange atmosphere in the room. It was as if he no longer completely belonged to her; he’d been out into the world and mingled with somebody just like him, a force who could turn out to be greater than her own. The feeling reminded her of when Annie had begun going out with friends and there was a power shift, her own influence diminishing among an ever growing and diverse range of independent experiences. It was difficult but also perfectly healthy for a developing child but for the type of husband she had it was confusing.

 

She watched him and became convinced that he was changed, different, he seemed stronger, his movements more confident as he wriggled into the mattress, settled his neck on the pillow. Perhaps he was less interested in her, not glancing at her or speaking which he often did at bedtime. She felt he had something new going on in his brain, his central processing unit. Vanessa wasn’t keen to let him fall asleep in this state, whatever it was, even if it was just her imagination, she wanted to speak to him before their day came to a close.

 

‘So,’ she began, ‘apart from their wonderful home and amazing car and days out, what else did you and Lorenzo discuss and how do you intend to stay in touch?’

 

‘Lorenzo,’ Spencer seemed to let out a little giggle, as if the mention of his name was a thrill in itself.

 

‘Yes! Lorenzo.’ She slapped his thigh but he didn’t flinch, he hadn’t adapted those minute human quirks. In a way Vanessa found this reassuring since his AI was obviously highly sophisticated, intimidatingly so but it wasn’t finely tuned to the physical micro expressions of a real human.

 

‘I can contact him on my laptop, social media, he’s got an email so if I could set one up we can communicate that way..but there is another way to link up.’

 

‘What other way?’

 

‘It doesn’t really have a name, not yet and it doesn’t involve external devices, it’s more of an inbuilt communication system, just for folks like us.’

 

‘Folks like us?’

 

‘Not me and you, me and Lorenzo but mine isn’t quite running yet. Am I due another upgrade soon?’

 

Vanessa began smoothing hand cream into her hands. ‘You’ve only just had one! I don’t think you’ve fully made use of it yet.’

 

‘My music one you mean? Yes I have, I’ve written a song, I told you but you won’t let me sing it to you.’

 

‘I’ve had enough of music for one night, Spencer. Maybe you could perfect it and perform it for me and Annie in a day or two, I could invite my mother over too, she’d love that.’

 

Spencer was lying with his head on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling and Charlie had settled on his chest, purring and clawing deeply at his pyjama top. The cat had got used to him now and regularly used him as a raised platform to sit on.  Again, it occurred to Vanessa that Charlie’s claws would surely be pricking his flesh slightly and if it were her, she’d have to peel those claws off and reprimand him but Spencer wasn’t feeling it. ‘I’m friends with your mother now so I’d like that but my song doesn’t need perfecting, it’s already perfect. The things I do, I get them right first time, technical things that is,’ he said, ‘I can feel my battery charge fading, Vanessa. We can speak in the morning.’ 

 

‘So did you talk about anything else? What sort of things is Lorenzo interested in?’

 

‘Space,’ Spencer said drowsily.

 

‘Space?’

 

‘Yes, his husband Steve is very interested in space they’re planning a trip,’ Spencer pointed upwards, ‘a trip to….space.’

 

‘Blimey,’ Vanessa switched off the lamp and settled down. She imagined Steve in a spacesuit, it occurred to her that maybe Lorenzo wouldn’t need one, he could simply tweak his settings and adapt seamlessly to an oxygen free environment.

 

Over the next few days, Vanessa worried about this apparently internal form of communication which Spencer intended to have installed so that he could communicate with his own kind. It felt like a betrayal and she wondered if there was a way to stop it. Occasionally it felt lonely being married to a cyborg and she longed for somebody to talk to but she no longer trusted the helpline at Cybermates Worldwide, not after the enforced upgrade and was loath to go on forums and gossip about her relationship.

 

She invited her mother, June over to hear Spencer perform his song, hoping that it would take his mind off Lorenzo and she made sure Annie was there too. After dreading Annie’s arrival home from travelling, she had begun to realise how dependent on her she’d become in recent weeks for emotional support. Her daughter had grown up considerably and was able to provide objective and empathetic words in response to Vanessa’s very modern predicaments about her marriage and associated problems.

 

Spencer prepared an afternoon tea for his audience and had a twinkle in his eye as he stood up in front of them with his hand on his hip, an affection he had adopted from Lorenzo. Annie was already hysterical with laughter before he even started. He had prepared a sophisticated background track and he shushed everyone before pressing a button on his laptop to begin.

 

He took a deep breath and began,

‘Will I reach my full potential

Ask for a payrise 

Or approach my dream date

Before it’s too late…..

Well I would but i have this condition,

It’s nothing new, man

It’s called being human

Being a bit self-destructive

A failure, soft flesh

So vulnerable to the cold

Going wrinkly getting old

Failing and failing again….’

 

‘Oh stop!’ said Vanessa, ‘this is just a criticism of being a normal person.’

 

June was clapping, ‘I think it’s very good. Is there more?’

 

‘Yes another verse,’ Spencer sang his next verse while Annie continued to laugh and Vanessa switched between laughter and dismay. All his lyrics rang true but there was something depressing about his observations on humanity, all carved into a very catchy song.

 

 

‘Are you going to release it?’ said Annie.

 

Spencer looked confused, ‘Release it where?’

 

‘Out, into the charts,’

 

‘No!’ Vanessa grabbed her daughter’s arm, ‘Come one Annie, let’s make Grandma a top up of tea,’

 

They went into the kitchen but Annie stood back in the doorway and said casually, ‘I don’t think I’ve got time Mum, I need to go up to my room and grab the rest of my stuff. Dad’s picking me up in an hour and my flights at two am.’

 

‘Flight? What do you mean?’

 

‘I’m going travelling again.’

 

It had seemed like yesterday that Vanessa had dreaded the arrival of her daughter and the mess that accompanied her but now after a few short weeks at home and some time at her fathers’s, she was off again.

 

‘I told you Mum, I wasn’t staying long. I just needed to get some funds together.’

 

‘But how did you do that? I haven’t seen you working.’

 

‘Grandma gave me a couple of hundred and Aunty Carol has donated me her airmiles.’

 

Vanessa rolled her eyes. ‘Aunty Carol,’ she tutted.

 

‘What? She’s desperate to see you and to meet your husband.’

 

‘Perhaps at Christmas. You’ll be back by then won’t you?’

 

Annie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m learning how to shear alpacas, it could take a week, it could take a year,’ she bent down to pick up a hairband off the carpet, ‘who knows.’

 

‘Spencer will miss you,’ Vanessa didn’t really mean this, she meant that she would miss her daughter terribly but she didn’t want to be accused of guilt-tripping.

 

‘I’ll miss him. I think he’s absolutely great and it’s been such a pleasant surprise, meeting him and finding out that my mum is a bit of a dark horse. You should get together with that Lorenzo guy and meet some of the other freaks with cyber husbands and wives.’

 

‘No. No I don’t think I will, not yet. Thank you for being so understanding though. Annie, it’s been lovely having you back.’